I sadly didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first one.

The first one was really focused on the history of the area and the love story of Nirrim and Sid but this one felt more focused on character development and I’m not really sure i liked the way the characters developed. Especially, Nirrim’s.

I did like the way it tied in with the Winners Series and the history of the God of Thieves but it wasn’t as strong as the first book for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an earc of the hollow heart. This in no way changes my opinion about the book.

The hollow heart is the sequel to the midnight lie. This sequel follows the story of two girls, Nirrim and Sid who fall in love with each other in a world filled with magic and oppression.
Facing the strict rules of society, they both end up in prison, where an immediate connection brings them closer to each other than expected. As both girls get more and more involved in the magic of their world, terrible secrets come out and hearts get lost on the way.

After having been quite disappointed with the first book in the series, I was pleasantly surprised by the sequel. The plot wasn't confusing, and I quite enjoyed seeing things from Sid's point of view. My fangirl heart nearly died when Arin and Kestrel appeared in the book, and luckily, everything I had dreadfully expected didn't happen.
The author's writing was beautiful like always, and in my opinion the world building improved immensely. It was refreshing to not be stuck in Nirrim's head the whole way through.
In the first book, her point of view kept throwing me off. This time around, with Sid's point of view having been added in, everything seemed clearer. The plot was easier to follow, and there weren't as many sudden setting changes as there were in the first book. My favorite part must have been Sid's relationship with her parents and her friendship with Roshar.
Another thing that stood out to me was the character development during the course of the story. It didn't feel rushed, but very natural, making the story that much more enjoyable.

All in all, I can recommend this book to both people who enjoyed the first book in the duology and to people who didn't, because even though this is a sequel, it felt like a new story to me.

Publication date: 14th of september 2021

The Hollow Heart was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, even though I only found out about and read the first book a week before requesting the ARC. This book is narrated by Nirrim, Sid, and a third narrator, so I’m going to split this review into each of their perspectives.

Nirrim
At the end of The Midnight Lie, Nirrim offered up her heart to the God of Thieves in order to restore her people’s memories of their city’s history. The Half Kith who once lived imprisoned behind the city’s wall now realize that many among them are powerful.
I did not realise how much I loved Nirrim for her heart until I experienced her without it. I had a complicated time with her narration, sometimes even uncomfortable. On one hand, I support her wanting to roleplay as a god as she uses her powers and this newfound inner strength to seek revenge by any means possible. It can be exciting to see a heroine completely lose touch with herself and give into an ambition, and I liked reading the exploration of Nirrim losing herself and realising that she maybe didn't know who she was in the first place.
On the other hand, a lot of her words and actions didn’t feel like her and I found myself pining for the Old Nirrim more often than not. Her situation were painful, but her actions were more so, and I read on while being both conflicted and compelled.
I also found myself wishing that the absence of Sid in her narrative would lead to a deeper development of the characters who returned from the first book, but Nirrim’s plot line felt very central to her quest for vengeance.

Sid
Meanwhile, the person Nirrim once loved most, Sid, has returned to her home country of Herran, where she must navigate the politics of being a rogue princess who has finally agreed to do her duty.
This book and my heart and all the stars on this review are owned by Sid. In the first book, she was confident and untouchable. In this, we’re introduced to her more serious and vulnerable side as she pines both to love and be loved. Her storyline focuses both on discovering what caused her mother’s ill health - poison, not sickness - and how she can fix her relationship with both of her parents. It’s exactly what I wanted from a continuation of her story and I fell in love with her character all over again.
I also want to acknowledge that I had no idea that this duology was set in the same universe or shared characters as an original trilogy, so I want to praise Rutoski for creating something that didn’t make me feel as if I was missing out on something else (although I will be reading the original trilogy as soon as possible).

The God
The third narrator of this book is a character known as The God until the final few moments, and it took until then for me to realise what their role was in the narrative. A majority of their chapters were dedicated to telling the backstories of characters and the history of the island that were hinted about in the first book, but didn’t get the chance to be developed. We learn more about the beginnings of the island before the gods fled, Nirrim’s parentage, and a few more moments about Raven’s life that aren’t essential to the narrative, but just nice to know as extra information.

These three storylines don't merge until around 70% (maybe later) of the way into the book. This disjointed structure is the main thing that stopped me giving this book the same five star rating as The Midnight Lie as switching back and forth between three seemingly unrelated narratives was quite jarring for me. It also meant that the first half of the book felt very slow paced and drawn out, and that a very eventful finale to the duology felt rushed, told by the most convenient rather than the most impactful narrator.

Overall, I would give this book 4 stars, maybe even 3.5 stars. It was imperfect, but still wonderful in more places than I can list. Learning more about this world and the history and the magic system was a delight as well as the exploration of compulsory heterosexuality and being a lesbian, both things which I think are rare to find in a fantasy. The writing style was simple but effective, but I did feel unsatisfied by the ending. I also missed the relationship between Sid and Nirrim, the thing that made me fall in love with The Midnight Lie.

The Hollow Heart is a book that feels like a fairytale. Or, more accurately, the story told in it, and across the duology as a whole, feels like one. That’s why I’d say it’s a very good idea to reread The Midnight Lie before this one, so you can see the story as a whole.

Because, in part, it picks off immediately after The Midnight Lie ends. Nirrim has just bartered her heart to the god of thieves, and Sid is leaving, heading back to a mother who is ill and may be dying.

Honestly, I really enjoyed the way the plot unfolded. I’ve seen mixed reactions to it, but I did like it. I think it helped that I made an effort to go into reading it with zero expectations. All I really wanted from the book was for Sid and Nirrim to end up together, so everything else was less important (in a sense). And, like I said, that helped. I could just let the story be told without any sense of it not going the way I wanted. I also think it helped that I reread book one just days before starting this, so I almost read it as one long book instead of two individual ones.

There’s not a whole lot I can say about this book without it verging on spoilery. As with The Midnight Lie, the writing here was absolutely gorgeous. The kind of writing that just consumes you the tiniest bit. I, selfishly, want Marie Rutkoski to be writing in this world forever because of this writing.

Add onto that getting to see familiar faces from The Winner’s Trilogy? I loved seeing Kestrel and Arin as parents themselves, as well as the way Sid acts with them. Also the way she denies herself what she wants, or puts herself through something she doesn’t, for the perceived good of her country? Can I say parallels?

Of course, Sid and Nirrim’s relationship was the real reason that I was here and it didn’t, for me, disappoint, although they didn’t get a lot of pagetime together (something to perhaps be aware of, if you were expecting more). I was a little bit disappointed that it ended where it did (where’s Nirrim meeting the in-laws?), but overall satisfied with the progression of their story.

"How does a story end? For you mortals, it always ends with your life."

This book was soooo frustrating!!! Like this is the only thing I can think about. The story picks up where it left in Midnight Lie and I cannot say more, because everything will be a spoiler. But like everything in this book was frustrating every decision ended badly. The plot was good, I was really interested in the story and mysteries. We met new really great characters and the story has three POV which was great to me. But most of the time I just wanted to scream. 3,5/5⭐

"You cannot answer who until you answer why, and you cannot answer why until you consider when"

Thank this book for teaching me how to solve murder mysteries.

"I think about the wrong that people do for the sake of love, and how it is possible to love a villain."

Oh yeah, it's not really hard to love a villain 🥀💅

Thank you NetGalley for providing digital advanced copy in exchange for honest review.

I really struggled with this book, however that is my fault not the authors or the books. I did not realise that this was a conclusion of a series, If i had read the previous book i think I would have really enjoyed this book.

If The Midnight Lie was about Nirrim and her quest to find the truth + the intense love story between her and Sid, then The Hollow Heart was about the impacts of this discovery and heartbreak. Oh and yearning, plenty of yearning.

I loved that we got to read through Sid's perspective in this book following the events of the first book, where she returns back home where her parents and an uncertain future await. I really loved these sections of the book where we got to learn way more about Sid's background and past, including her fractured relationship with her parents. This was so interesting to me, as I didn't really expect it to go this in detail but we get a lot which was actually really great. I thought the exploration of Sid's relationships with her parents ( Arin and Kestrel) was brilliant and so touching. I haven't read Rutkoski's other trilogy, but I've heard good things and readers of of that series will definitely love this insight we get into Arin and Kestrels later life.

Nirrim's character undergoes the most change in this novel and it was genuinely quite sad and the author isn't afraid to take this change to some very dark places. At the end of the first book we see Nirrim exchange her heart for the veil of lies to be lifted, so all her people (half kith) can regain their powers and throw off the shackles of the high kiths cruelty. The Nirrim we meet in this book is somebody else completely and I actually really liked how the author navigates this and establishes them as two different parts of a whole.

There were definitely parts where the pacing was off and I wished so much of the main action hadn't been concentrated into the last quarter. I also think that readers expecting the same level of romance in comparison to the first novel might be a tad disappointed.

Overall, The Hollow Heart is a satisfying conclusion to this duology but at the same time I wish we could have more, maybe some short stories would be good. I think this was the ideal place to end Sid and Nirrim's stories though and readers will go through the full range of emotions whilst reading.

4.5 stars
This Spellbindingly thrilling conclusion to the The Forgotten Gods duology is simply exceptional. The magic. The vengeance. The romance. I was enthralled until the very last page!

After trading it away to the god of thieves to restore the memories of her people, Nirrim’s Heart is lost. Sid, the person she loved most has returned to Herran to take up her duty to the crown.

But rumours have arisen in the Herrani court;of a growing threat, of a magic unleashed and a cruel, black haired queen who can push false memories into your mind—making you believe your dearest friends to be your enemies.

Sid doesn’t know this Queen is Nirrim, seeking vengeance to those who have wronged her. Can Sid save Nirrim from herself? Does Nirrim even want to be saved?

But with bloodshed and war on the horizon,Sid and Nirrim will soon find out that it doesn’t matter what they want... for the gods have their own plans.

I enjoyed this soo much, it was amazing! I loved the incredibly detailed and immersive setting, as well as returning to Herran (one of the main settings in Rutkoski’s Winner’s Trilogy and getting to see Arin and Kestrel again.)

The characters were expertly written and witnessing just how much both Nirrim and Sid have changed since The Midnight Lie was brilliant. Nirrim’s evolution here was really fascinating as was SId’s development,both in her relationship/feelings for Nirrim as well as her complicated relationship with her parents.

The narrative is written multiple POV which differs from the previous book where we really only got Nirrim’s perspective. Here,we get the perspectives of Nirrim, Sid and an unnamed God (whose identity isn’t revealed until the end) which I really enjoyed and found very insightful.

The pacing towards the end of the book did feel a little too fast, but I did end up really liking the outcome at the end. I was satisfied with it (but I can see the possibility for future novellas/short stories or even another series.)

Given this is a sequel and has slot of narrative focus on Sids homeland and characters from The Winner’s Trilogy I do recommend reading the trilogy and The Midnight Lie before checking this one out.

If you love a beautifully written YA fantasy with magic, intrigue and a swoon worthy sapphic romance, then I’ve found just the book for you!

Thanks to Hodder&Stoughton and NetGalley for the ARC.

I'm really sad I didn't like this more! I read The Midnight Lie not too long ago and was so excited for the opportunity to dive right back into this world. I loved Sid and Nirrim's moments together in the first book and couldn't wait to get more! Unfortunately, The Hollow Heart was quite different from what I expected. Sid and Nirrim were apart for most of the book, and it felt like reading 2 different stories. I really enjoyed Sid's perspective and loved learning more about her and her story. Nirrim's POV on the other hand felt rather repetitive, not much was happening on her end. I just kept waiting for them to reunite, to reignite the spark they had in book 1. They did, eventually, but the ending felt rushed and everything was over way too quickly. I wish they would've found their way back to each other much earlier, especially considering this is a duology, and this book the conclusion to their story. The addition of the third POV, The God, was interesting, but felt a bit underdeveloped. I would've preferred to have more Sid + Nirrim instead ^^

Also, I feel like I would've benefited from reading The Winner's Curse"beforehand, I'm sure I would've appreciated Kestrel and Arin's moments more. I am intrigued now to learn more about their story, though, and I very much want to read more from this author.

So overall, a nice follow-up with beautiful writing and a lot more Sid, yay, but also the potential for so much more!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This duology was a true joy to read and I can honestly say The Hollow Heart is a great conclusion to the series.

At the end of The Midnight Lie, Sid had to leave Nirrim to take care of her sick mother, Queen Kestrel. Nirrim, in turn traded her heart to the God of Thieves, in order to give her people the truth about their history.

In this go around, we got to know Sid a lot better and learned about her complicated relationship with her parents. I liked her POV chapters a lot and I think the dual POV really benefitted the story overall. In The Hollow Heart, the pacing was also a lot better compared to the firs book. I also liked how both books in the duology focused on parental relationships, since those can be difficult for queer people. So I think thematically this was very fitting. Fans of the original Winner's trilogy will also be very happy with this, as quite a lot of characters from that series show up.

With Nirrim, I had to suspend my disbelief quite a lot since her rise to queenhood seemed a bit too easy. I enjoyed reading her corruption arc, but I wish it had been set up a bit earlier in the series. I feel similarly about the inclusion of the pantheon and the rest of the world. Those things should have been established a bit earlier.

Sid and Nirrim's relationship was one of the most compelling things to me in the series and the pining and longing was really well done.

Rutkoski's prose is, again, simple yet elegant and just flows really well, I'm in awe of her storytelling abilities. All in all, The Hollow Heart was a great read and I gave it 5/5 stars.

unfortunately i had not realized this is a sequel and i have not read the first book either, but only heard great things! from what i've read the characters are exceptional and the world and writing are so good. definitely need to read the first before i reread this one.

I just read The Midnight Lie which I enjoyed very much and was excited to read this sequel. Nirrim and Sid are now separated and both story lines develop at the same time.
I loved discovering Sid's life in her home island and I've just learned that Sid's parents are the protagonists of the Winner's Curse trilogy so that's 3 new books on my TBR :-)
I missed Sid and Nirrim together and the ending felt a bit rushed but I enjoy the writing style and I find the ending satisfactory. I liked The Midnight Lie a bit better but The Hollow Heart also deserves 4 stars.

Thank you to the publisher who provided me with an e-copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First of all I want to thank NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this e-arc! I'm really happy that I got to read this sequel back to back with the first book.
On this book we got to spend more chapters with Arin and Krestel from The Winner's trilogy and I just want to say that I missed them so so much and I was so happy to see them interact with Sid, it was really the best scenes of the book.
Nirrim chapters were the most heartbreaking to read but I liked them either way.
However, I felt like the ending part was a little bit rushed and that definitely got my rating down a little bit.
Overall I really enjoyed reading this.

Having read the first book I was eager to find out what was going to happen so was thrilled to get an ARC for this. Following the story of Nirrim and Sid who are now on separate islands, with Sid believing she wasn’t enough for Nirrim. Nirrim in order to give the half Kith their memories back has made a deal with a God, which is never a good idea. Nirrim thinks she has given away her heart but it becomes clear this is not the case.
I felt somewhat disappointed by this sequel. Having loved the first book I think that the fact that Sid and Nirrim were separated for most of the book was frustrating. I also found the ending somewhat abrupt and found myself wondering if there will be a third book and if so how would it work.
What was clever was the ideals of Nirrim and how by losing a part of herself she becomes corrupted and unable to empathise or understand people. It was interesting to see the half kith becoming the powerful and the high kith becoming the oppressed. This book was not as good as the first and left me feeling that something was not resolved.

Rating: 4.5*

The hollow heart was my most anticipated release for this year, and i am SO glad that the sequel didn’t disappoint, finding it a really enjoyable read.

Marie Rutkoski’s writing was purely magical as usual, and even though the sequel didn’t focus on the romance as much as the first book did, the plot felt so strong and I loved seeing the separate journeys of all the characters join up together through the different POVs. The POV’s alternated between Nirrim, Sid (YES!! A SID POV!!) and a new character, and I found the new characters POV incredibly intriguing, and it greatly complimented the storyline with the added mystery.

Watching both Sid and Nirrims relationships with the other characters in the book was incredibly satisfying, especially seeing the further development of their characters through this, and I LOVED the involvement of Kestrin. Personally, I felt like having so much Kestrin content made up slightly for the lack of Sidnirrim - but I feel like if you haven’t read the Winners trilogy you may feel slightly left out by this.

Having said that, even though there was a lack of Sid and Nirrim together, the pining this paved way for was incredible!!! My heart ached and was torn apart several times during this book, I just needed them to be reunited!!

The ending to this book did feel slightly short, yet still managed to be fulfilling and I finished the book feeling satisfied yet also very empty with having to say goodbye to Sid and Nirrim (Seriously, who am I meant to cry over now?!).

I have loved the Forgotten Gods duology so much, Rutkoski really swept me away with her fantastical world building and beautiful writing and these books will forever remain a favourite. I can’t wait to read her future works, and even better if one of them includes any more sidnirrim content ;) ;)

Ah I didn't really love this book, it was kind of average for me. We pick up with Sid and Nirrim, Sid returned to her parents Kestrel and Arin back in Herran and Nirrim having become a God and wanting to enact revenge on those who wronged her and her people. I really enjoyed Sid's story, it was super interesting to see her interact with Kestrel and Arin, especially after being so frustrated with them. There is a mystery at the centre of her plotline which I loved a lot, even if the outcome ended up being anti-climatic. Nirrim's story didn't really capture my attention that much mostly because I'm never really fond of the whole anti-hero thing.

It was also a bit frustrating how suddenly the book wrapped up. I wish we had more Sid and Nirrim together moments because their interactions are really what made the first book so enjoyable. I did like that Nirrim and Sid were both so different than they were in The Midnight Lie and that this book took them somewhere different in terms of character and growth.

Overall The Hollow Heart was a good follow up but it wasn't the stunning conclusion I had anticipated. Defo felt like there was more to come though.

I am so happy that I got to jump back into this world and the journey’s of Nirrim and Sid as quickly as I did. This book has been on my most anticipated reads for a while and I was so excited when I got the email to say I was approved. It did not disappoint! Here’s why…

Firstly, Nirrim and Sid. This book, if you didn’t know, is dual perspective. We see both Nirrim’s life as she tackles it with her new found lack of compassion, as well as Sid’s experience of returning home and all the drama that brings with it. Something I really like about Rutkoski’s writing is just how much she can cram into just a few hundred pages, and she definitely does that here. The two stories, while separate, are intimately entwined and crafted in a way that makes reading them an almost magical experience. I would always get excited when I picked up on things that had been mentioned or brushed over in Sid’s chapters in the conversations Nirrim was having with other character and vice-versa.

Sid’s chapters in particular were my favourite. While I felt like The Midnight Lie was Nirrim’s book, this book really feels like Sid’s. We see her interactions with her family and friends and her homeland. We see more about her character and learn more about her deepest fears and insecurities in a way we couldn’t when she had the mask on with Nirrim in the first book. The story, while driven by Nirrim’s change of heart (literally), is really about Sid figuring out what she wants, where she wants to be and how she wants to live her life.

I also really enjoyed how this book really explored the Gods Pantheon that was mentioned a lot during the first book. In this book, now that the existence of this Pantheon has been confirmed at the end of The Midnight Lie, we see the characters learning more about it. There are also moments when the Gods themselves make appearances in different ways and I loved how Rutkoski has mixed in the mythology of the Pantheon into the story to make it even more detailed and magical than it already was.

I really liked how the book ended. Normally I’m the kind of reader who likes to see the aftermath of a story happening, but I kind of enjoyed how abrupt the ending was. The story is about Sid and Nirrim and whether they can beat the forces that are keeping them apart. The story answers that and I didn’t think it needed anything else. (Plus, it leaves open the possibility of more Sid and Nirrim books… maybe).

WHY IT WAS A 4-STAR READ FOR ME:

For me, it was the Nirrim chapters that stumbled me a bit. I really loved Nirrim in book one and I knew that there would be a big shift with her character in book two after she gave up her heart. But, I didn’t feel like it was executed in the best way. Her thoughts and feelings felt a bit too blunt and confused and there were some of the things she thought that didn’t quite fit with the idea of not having a heart (or compassion) anymore. It wasn’t that I was bored while reading her chapters, it was more that I was confused at a few points while reading. Despite this, I really enjoyed reading this book and once I got use to Nirrim’s lack of compassion and the way that it was written I fell into the story just as easily as I did with The Midnight Lie and I couldn’t put it down!

I am absolutely in love with Sid and Nirrim. The first book, The Midnight Lie, had me falling in love with their love story, and the second book had me rooting for their reunion. The Hollow Heart is a much darker book to the first; with Nirrim's descent into villainy and Sid's determination to get the Nirrim she loves back. I loved getting to know more about Sid's home and family dynamic, as well as seeing Nirrim become someone so unrecognisable from the first instalment. It's a fast-paced, addicting novel that questions how far you would go to save the people you love.

It was wonderful to be back with Sid and Nirrim. I'd been anticipating this release for so long, and am so grateful to have been gifted an ARC copy. Will definitely be recommending this duology to everybody I know, it's one of my all time faves.

4.5 stars

Headlines:
A treat for Winner's Trilogy fans
Emotions in shreds

Ooof, what a read and culmination to this duology set within The Winner's Trilogy world. I have been on an emotional roller coaster, I'm a little dizzy and sad it's over. The Sid and Nirrim from The Midnight Lie were different in this story, one more mature and the other completely different; I was utterly glued to the page.

I lived for the time in with Sid and others (trying not to give too much away here) in Herrani and I simply loved time with those characters of old, seeing them in a different light, through a different lens. Sid really grew from that cad-ish character we saw in book one to a person with self-realisation over a number of factors. There were a number of clever twists to the tale in Herrani. Seeing Sid's mother in a state of weakness was kind of shocking, her father was warm and strong. Ohhh, the feels here.

I found reading about Nirrim discomforting, her situation was painful as were her actions. I longed for restoration of her lost self and connection with those she had loved. I found the whole separation of these two painful, emotional and compelling. The weaving in of the forgotten gods was also clever plotting.

It wrapped up quickly towards the finish and I definitely could have managed some more of what happened after but I'm not complaining. This is one of the strongest and enjoyable fantasy duologies I've read in a while and both installments were equally as good as one another. Marie Rutkoski remains one of those authors who I am drawn to on plot and characterisation with a unique fantasy world. Roll on her next incarnation.

"Mortals say it as though they can feel the hand of the beloved inside their ribs, palm supporting the heart, fingers curled lightly around the trembling muscle. Pain could come so easily. All it would take is a good, hard squeeze."

Thank you to Hodder Books for the finished review copy.

Thankfully, I found the sequel a little bit better.

I didn't find any of the characters likeable and God, don't get me started on the chemistry. If the entire book was written as well as the ending was, I might have liked it better.